BREAKING NEWS

BREAKING NEWS

Fourth new Minot AFB airmen’s dorm being built

MINOT AIR FORCE BASE – When a fourth new dormitory is finished and occupied at Minot Air Force Base, half of Minot Air Force Base’s airmen will be living in new dormitories, said Lt. Col. Doug Gilpin, commander of the base’s 5th Civil Engineer Squadron.

Gilpin said the fourth dormitory, a 168-room facility, is about 34 percent complete. It is scheduled to open in late September.

The dormitory cost $17.8 million to build. However, the project has a March 2014 completion date because an older dormitory will be demolished as part of the project.

Last week when the base released its economic impact report for 2012 fiscal year to the Minot Area Chamber of Commerce’s Military Affairs Committee, Maj. Jorge Jimenez, commander of the base’s 5th Comptroller Squadron, said base construction expenditures totaled $58.5 million and include the completion of a third dormitory and the construction of the fourth dormitory and other projects.

The breakdown of construction expenditures in fiscal year 2012 is: military construction program, $24.7 million; military family housing, more than $2.6 million; and operations and maintenance, $31.2 million.

For several years the Minot base has been working on a project to replace old dormitories for unaccompanied airmen that were built between 1957 and 1975.

Ground was broken for the first new dormitory in August 2008. That dormitory, a three-story, 144-room structure, cost $18.2 million.

The dormitory projects are being financed with federal funds.

About two years ago the base completed a nearly 20-year project to replace or renovate the base’s family housing. The project started in fiscal year 1992 and was completed in calendar year 2011.